Chief Randy Bruegman has quite a résumé. He currently is the fire chief at the Fresno (Calif.) Fire Department. He's published two books about the fire service and is working on his third, Advanced Fire Administration. He also is president of the Center for Public Safety Excellence headquartered in Chantilly, Va., which is one of the many leadership positions he's held at the local, state and federal levels. In fact, he is a past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and has worked with the Department of Commerce's National Research Council, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in several leadership positions.

That's just a sample of Bruegman's many accomplishments from throughout his more than 30 years of fire service. Bruegman said he joined the fire service as a young volunteer firefighter in Fort Collins, Colo., back in the 1970s. He was attracted to the job's variety of duties, which included an unpredictable day where anything could happen and the physical challenges associated with fighting fires. However, the greatest attraction to the job was being able to help those citizens who were in need or found themselves in extenuating circumstances.

“Just being able to help people who are having a significant event, to respond and to show up and to help them in that time, is very rewarding,” Bruegman said.

Bruegman began his service at a time when the fire department was innovating to protect citizens during major incidents that dealt with chemical spills or other hazardous materials. Early in his career, Bruegman worked closely with his colleagues on what would one day be dubbed “hazmat” incidents. In fact, he coordinated the hazmat program in Fort Collins for more than eight years. At the time, the fire service was just beginning to adopt hazardous response strategies, he said.

“It was really a time when we were making it up as we went along,” Bruegman said. “Every call, we would take back lessons learned and distribute them nationally. At that time, there wasn't even commercial equipment available to us — like plug-and-patch kits — so we had to fabricate much of what we were using in the field back at the firehouse. … So that was very fun because it was an opportunity to really innovate on a day-to-day basis.”

Operational strategies aren't the only aspect of the job that's significantly changed. Communications systems are completely different from when he first started, Bruegman said. When he first joined the fire service, he and his fellow firefighters communicated over a 3-watt portable radio with “maybe three channels in it,” he said. Now, trunked systems can accommodate dozens of users and interoperable communications between local, state and federal agencies are possible.

“It's just been a revolution in technology,” Bruegman said.

Yet the evolution of technology has added a level of complexity to the fire chief's job. In the past, local agencies were most concerned with their own communication systems and worried less about what their neighbors were doing. Thirty years ago, fire chiefs didn't worry about talking with the department of public works, the police department or the highway patrol helicopter, Bruegman said. Now, the fire service has the ability to link into a major incident from the command-and-control center and work closely with other agencies to manage the event.

Nevertheless, today's communications technology is a vital tool that helps fire chiefs do their jobs by providing them with a full cadre of information that helps them lead their teams during an incident, Bruegman said.

“It used to be that we would be in charge, and now we are having joint command operations and being able to link these people on various tactical channels so we can manage the incident much better,” he said. “It's just such a higher level of sophistication that is partly driven by technology and partly driven by the realization that if we are to be effective we must be able to communicate. We must have the command system and structures in place, not only for the fire service but for all of the allied support agencies that are necessary to carry out large-scale operations.”

However, the No. 1 tool he uses to successfully lead his fire department is the ability to stay modest and keep his ego in check. He said a lot of chief officers as they move up the ladder — especially when they become chief of the department — lose sight of the fact that firefighters in the field are the ones doing the difficult work. It's the chief's job to arm firefighters with all the tools necessary to support firefighting efforts, but it's the personnel on the ground who actually make sure the incident is handled and people are saved.

“It's our job to make sure we do everything we can to support that effort, because if we don't do our job they are not going to be able to do their job safely in the field. So I think that's extremely critical,” he said.

Bruegman also noted that many chiefs, as they progress up the ranks, get “wrapped around our success quite a bit.” He suggested that fire chiefs focus more on leaving a legacy by sharing knowledge and mentoring those around them.

“You can have a lot of success and awards, but that's not really the true test of leadership,” he said. “The true test is when you are no longer a chief officer and you've planted seeds in people and helped them to prepare to assume leadership roles, to learn skill sets that they might not have otherwise learned. And that you've given back and mentored and coached these folks so that they can have some success and create their own legacy in the future.”

Bruegman said there is a big difference between being a fire chief today compared with what the job entailed a decade ago. Today, it's a very political job, he said. And he believes that most chief officers don't understand the political nature of the job until they are promoted to fire chief. The job is about political relationships with other fire chiefs in a particular area as well as public officials, the union and the community. It's all interlinked and intertwined, he said. He said that, for example, fire chiefs may have unions that back certain candidates running for office, which creates a sticky situation.

“And so you have unions backing candidates for office and that creates a relationship between them, which has an impact on what you can and can't do as fire chief … so you really have to be astute at being able to maneuver through the politics of an issue or issues,” he said. “As a chief officer for a community, you're trying to protect the community and at the same time not offend any one group. You still have to keep your eye on what the mission is and what you are trying to achieve. But sometimes it takes a great deal of facilitation to actually move through that process and be able to achieve the organizational objective — and still have everyone stay on board with you.”

Although he must maneuver a political minefield to do his job, it is all worth it when he gets to leave the office and watch his department's firefighters at work.

“I'm still awestruck at some of the things they are able to do and just the level of professionalism and skill they bring to the job every day is pretty amazing,” he said.

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